As I’ve mentioned here on my blog before, I’m a sucker for medieval movies. I find it fascinating to watch depictions of what life was like in the medieval era, and I can certainly appreciate a man in a suit of armour.
Moving on.
The other evening, Blaine and I were trying to figure out what we were going to watch via Netflix, and he recommended Gladiator as it popped up as a recommendation. He had seen it, but I hadn’t, so we decided to give it a watch.
Gladiator is “a 2000 British-American epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson. The film was co-produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures. It stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed (in his final role), Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when Commodus, the ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus becomes a gladiator and rises through the ranks of the arena to avenge the murders of his family and his emperor,” the movie’s Wikipedia page explains.
Russel Crowe is fantastic in his role as Maximus, as is Joaquin Pheonix as Commodus. Crowe nails the nitty-gritty charm of his character, while Pheonix takes his role as Commodus to an entirely new level of cruel, vile, and twisted. All of the acting is well-done, but these two performances stood out for me, personally.
Rather than being a stereotypical medieval movie, Gladiator differs in terms of its storyline. In addition to being epic and violent, this movie is also incredibly emotional, touching, thought-provoking and realistic. I enjoyed it, and while it’s a tad lengthy at two-and-a-half hours, I think it’s absolutely worth the watch.
ontheedgeofeverything 